This invention relates to high vacuum apparatus and more particularly to apparatus for processing precision quartz crystal resonators mounted in ceramic flat pack enclosures.
The commercial quartz resonator industry at present normally uses separate systems for the respective processes of cleaning, electroding, and final sealing of quartz crystal resonator components; however, such systems expose the components to air between each step. This air exposure contaminates the units and contributes to changes in the frequency of the resonator during its shelf life and to higher effective resistances in the final product.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,914,836 entitled, "Method for Processing Quartz Crystal Resonators", Erich Hafner, et al., which issued on Oct. 28, 1975, and is assigned to the assignee of the present invention, there is disclosed a plurality of processing steps for fabricating quartz crystal resonators in a high vacuum system where the exposure to air is eliminated between steps. This patent further outlines a high vacuum system for carrying out this process. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,272 entitled, "High Vacuum Continuous Cycle Fabrication Facility", which issued Nov. 17, 1981, in the names of Erich Hafner, et al., which is also assigned to the assignee of the present invention, there is disclosed an in-line modular unit configuration embodying such a processing system. The teachings of these inventions are specifically incorporated herein by reference.
It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a new and improved ultra-high vacuum system for processing precision quartz resonators.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a quartz resonator processing system which effects a plurality of processing steps without intermediate exposure to air.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a quartz crystal resonator processing system which is relatively inexpensive and designed for a relatively small volume of production.